George Formby Portrait

This is my first portrait of George Formby with his 'banjolele'. It's an A3-sized portrait using graphite and charcoal sketch art pencils on  Daler Rowney 220g/m2 (135lbs) art paper.

I feel I've captured the image, and the performance character, of George very well. It's a difficult face to capture really, as his appearance when performing, with his smiles and other facial affectations, is often different to his 'normal' off-stage appearance.

The picture has recently sold, which I was delighted about. It shows other people appreciate my work. I hope the buyer gets a lot of enjoyment from the picture. I feel artwork has an enduring element, in that you can hang a picture and view it over time - months and years - and continue to get new insights into it and new enjoyment from it. I still enjoy looking at artwork on my wall that's been there for years.

Welcome & Introduction

Hello, and welcome to my fine art blog.

My father is an accomplished traditional Chinese artist and I grew up surrounded by some of the most respected artists in my region, so it is no surprise really that I developed an interest and skill in fine art painting from an early age.

At college and university I studied graphic design and fine art. Nowadays of course everything is done by computer, but I first started studying in the days before computers were widespread so everything was done manually by using artistic 'hand and eye' skills - packaging design, posters, advertising leaflets, logos, sign writing - all done by hand. And all these skills and styles I could adapt and use in my fine art painting. Later I was able to study up-to-date computer techniques.

My favourite mediums have always been watercolour and gouache. At the moment I'm very interested in pencil work and acrylic however, and these are the two mediums I use most in my current art work.

Having had a couple of enforced breaks in recent years due to career, family, and suchlike, I am excited to be now regularly painting again. I want to use my art skill commercially and my vision is to provide high quality fine art work at affordable prices. I hope you enjoy my blog and the pictures of my artwork.